Lucas Vazquez could be forgiven for thinking that his time at Real Madrid was coming to an end. His contract ends on June 30, the day before his 33rd birthday.
In the first half of this season, despite being fit enough to make the matchday squad for every game, Vazquez barely featured. In Madrid’s first 15 La Liga matches he started just once — in a 3-1 defeat at Atletico Madrid. All three of Atleti’s goals were headers, and all three crosses came from Vazquez’s right-back zone. He was substituted before the hour mark. It remains his side’s only league defeat this season.
But fast forward six months and Vazquez was the outstanding player in El Clasico as Madrid beat Barcelona 3-2, all but confirming their title victory. It puts them 11 points clear of Barca with six games remaining, and sealing the league double over their closest challengers also acts as an extra half-point, should Barcelona somehow come back to finish level. Realistically, the title is Madrid’s.
During the first presidential reign of Florentino Perez, he famously declared that his policy for squad composition was “Zidanes y Pavones”. This meant superstars like Zinedine Zidane and youth products like Francisco Pavon — although considering the way Madrid played throughout that period, it felt more like he meant brilliant attackers and sub-standard defenders. The team was always top-heavy, and the ‘galacticos’ period was something of a failure.
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Carlo Ancelotti’s side feels closer to what Perez intended. The difference is that the superstars, in general, are attackers who were signed at a relatively young age, and Madrid have moulded them into the players they want. The side’s regular front three — Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham — were signed aged 20 or younger. Something similar applies to midfielders Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni.
Others, such as Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, were older and more established, but have now been around for a decade. Things are a little different in defence, but David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger were picked up on free transfers. Madrid have become more astute in the transfer market, and they’ve also built a squad that embodies the club. But the players who feel most typically Real Madrid are two thirtysomethings who came through the academy and have stuck around ever since. They’ve also been the outstanding performers in their last two matches.
Nacho makes a key intervention at City on Wednesday (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
In the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City on Wednesday, which Madrid won on penalties, left-sided centre-back Nacho was excellent, helping to shackle Erling Haaland and winning everything in the air. Now 34, the club captain has only rarely been a regular, and never one of the side’s most glamorous players. But it’s footballers like these, who are consistent, reliable, versatile and embody the value of the club, that help win trophies and get you over the line in tight games at the business end of the season.
Last night was Vazquez’s turn. By now, we think of him as a full-back — although for much of his career, Vazquez was a right-winger capable of doing a job in defence. Against Barca, partly because of injuries, Ancelotti fielded a defence that boasted three midfielders by trade: alongside centre-back Rudiger were Camavinga, Tchouameni and Vazquez.
Vazquez isn’t the world’s most solid right-back, but with his experience, he largely makes good decisions. An interesting feature of his performance last night was that when Barcelona attacked down the opposite flank — and with Lamine Yamal on that side, that was their main tactic — Vazquez didn’t focus on defending the far post but instead narrowed his position and tried to shut down opponents trying to reach a cutback.
This is a slightly risky tactic: if Yamal had driven the ball across to Robert Lewandowski in this situation below, Vazquez could have been caught out…
It did pay off later. When Yamal’s lofted cutback was about to find Lewandowski in his favourite position, lingering on the edge of the box, Vazquez intercepted.
But Vazquez’s display was really about his attacking ability, as he was involved in all three goals.
For the opener, he called for a switch of play from Bellingham, then outwitted Joao Cancelo, driving on the outside and showing sheer perseverance to get the ball when Cancelo stepped across his path — but effectively stepped across too far.
Pau Cubarsi, Barcelona’s talented young centre-back, did what you expect of a 17-year-old: he went to ground too early.
Vazquez played the situation perfectly — Cubarsi’s challenge was actually quite far away from him, and other players might have exaggerated the dive. But Vazquez left his right foot in long enough to legitimately win the penalty.
Vazquez scored Madrid’s second equaliser himself, converting smoothly from Vinicius Jr’s driven cross.
It’s worth highlighting the extent to which Vazquez is tasked with stretching the play in the build-up — few right-backs would then have the presence of mind to attack the far post and apply such solid contact on a bouncing ball.
And for the winner, few would have the desire to make this run in stoppage time — particularly considering that 2-2 would have represented a good result for Madrid.
But Vazquez pushed forward to give Brahim Diaz an option down the right and then drove a simple but perfect ball across the six-yard line. It was probably intended primarily for substitute striker Joselu, but he made no contact with his attempted backheel.
Bellingham, just as he did in the reverse fixture, fired home the stoppage-time winner.
“With five minutes left, we were talking to each other, saying we’re going to win,” Vazquez said afterwards. “That’s what this club and this badge represent: we always want to win and fight until the end. We never give up.”
It was almost corporate-speak from one of Madrid’s most reliable foot soldiers. Bellingham was less reserved. “Lucas Vazquez, you f***ing legend,” was his immediate reaction on X.
Bellingham, on a different planet to everyone else in the first half of the season, hasn’t quite been at his best this week. The same is true of Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr, with the attackers probably fatigued from a draining 120 minutes in Manchester.
But clubs like Madrid, relentless winning machines, always have a reliable supporting cast. Every so often, one of them steals the show. Vazquez has earned himself another medal — and maybe a new contract too.
(Top image: Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)
